Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fazilka, August 25 The Fazilka Cricket Association with the help of Punjab Cricket Association is going to hold a mega T-20 cricket tournament in Fazilka from September 3.

Pankaj Dhamija, general secretary of the association, said that the altogether 32 teams from other states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pardesh, Maharashtra, Banglore, Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnatka, Goa, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Assam, Orissa, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Kolkata, Tripura, Tamilnadu, Kerala and others had sent their written consent to participate in the tournament.

These state-level teams were approached through the Punjab Cricket Association to participate in the tournament which is going to start on September 3.

The final match would be played on September 14.

Dhamija further disclosed that the matches would be played according to knock-out basis. All the 32 teams are placed in eight pools and six matches would be played every day at three different venues, including the Government Senior Secondary School for Boys, the Government MR College and the Border Security Forces headquarters campus.

Dhamija claimed that this would be the first such mega tournament in the history of Fazilka. He said that all the hotels and guest-houses had been booked for the players.

A Joint Initiative of Fazilka Press Club and Graduates Welfare Association Fazilka

On 15th of August 2009 , Press Club, Fazilka took a new initiative to celebrate the independence day It started the extension of Library in the Press club office , Partap Bagh, for the competitive exams like medical , engineering entrance, civil services preparation etc. For this purpose it is decided to join hands with Fazilka Value Education Centre, an educational wing of GWAF (Graduates Welfare Association Fazilka). "Poor economic state of Fazilka does not allow the parents to get preparation of their child for the above said competitions from highly costly institutions like Kota, Chandigarh or Delhi, Moreover the previous poor results from these institutions and malpractices of children in the adolescent age away from parents enforces to provide all the library facilities to the Fazilka people" said S. Davinder Singh, president press club Fazilka.

The retired principal of local college O. P. Chawla along with Dr Bhupinder Singh retired Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Roorkee will inaugurate the library. Initially the library will be opened between 10 AM to 4 PM and later time will be extended or changed depends upon the utility of the students. Rare manuscripts and old book in existing library will surely benefit to many students and citizen related to arts, history, literary subjects. Later the audio-visual centre will be added to this library which will include online library. Vision statement of this library is "is to connect students and scholars of Fazilka region to the world of information and ideas. "With initiative like FVEL we can select, create, organize, protect, provide and teach access to resources that are relevant to our students said Umesh Kukkar, President GWAF.

"Fazilka Value Education Library is a unique one itself, as it will be run by the students and for the students, the pass out students donate the books to ensure good future of next batch" said Navdeep Asija, Secretary GWAF. He also gave the detail of various educational programmes to be initiated by GWAF like e-learning, e-counseling, value education and about extension lectures series etc. Talking to media person, Project Head (Education Wing) of GWAF Dr Rajneesh Kamra stressed upon such unique initiatives with people participation are must for the anticipation and response to a rapidly changing information environment. He also advocated for open access to and fair use of information and intellectual property. People from various walks of city's life will be invited to take part on debate "Ek Shehar Hamare Sapno Ka-Fazilka Vision 2047".

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, today suspended the ongoing counseling based on plus two merit in technical institutions affiliated to it following a Punjab and Haryana High Court direction, asking it to give due opportunity to students who have appeared for the CET, which was the basis for admissions during two earlier counseling sessions.

The PTU has also been rapped by the state government with preliminary findings of an inquiry marked by Technical Education Minister Swarna Ram revealing it had not followed a proper procedure while conducting a counseling session on August 6.

Six students had earlier approached the High Court, claiming they had not been given due opportunity to take admissions to institutions affiliated to PTU.

Vice-Chancellor Rajnish Arora said the university had booked seats for those six students. It had also advised its counsel to seek an early decision from the High Court on the next hearing on August 17 so that the academic schedule was not affected. The academic session for 2009-10 in institutions affiliated to it would start on August 17 as per schedule.

Dr Arora claimed the counseling on the basis of plus two merit had been done following a government notification and was in line with the precedence set last year. "We had also announced the current scheduled through advertisements two months ago", he added.

Meanwhile, students as well as their guardians are a confused lot. Social worker Navdeep Asija said there were also attempts to be fool students with reports earlier stating seats in government colleges had been filled. "Now, when many students have taken admission in private colleges after paying exorbitant fees, they have come to know that seats are still available in government institutions", he added.

A few others said they had even submitted fee because counseling had been continuing since the last two days and were now unclear about their status. The Vice-Chancellor said all colleges had been directed not to take any fee from aspirants. "We will go by the final court order", he added.

The PTU has allotted 13,000 seats during two rounds of counseling to eligible students, 9,000 of whom have taken admission in its affiliated colleges. It has 17,000 seats available for counseling. The total availability of seats for engineering colleges in the state is around 23,000.

Meanwhile, the PTU officials in a press note released in the evening said: "The counseling has been postponed till further court orders. The counseling for sports, defence and paramilitary categories which was to be held on August 17 has been stopped. The academic session will start from August 17. The counseling schedule for lateral entry to second year students shall be carried out from August 28 onwards".

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

As you are aware that in the due course of time greedy deeds of mankind damaged maximum to our environment. Fazilka also lost its many valuable environmental assets, like Badha Lake, Green Belt, Parts, Water bodies etc.Fazilka Urban area is 10.28 Sqkm and its green belt is less than 0.2%. Natural recharging of ground water has already stopped due to construction and drying up of Badha Lake. To Revive the same, we have taken up the initiative to improve further our green belt followed by Badha Lake revivial.

To make environment as mandatory duty for all the god fearing and hopeful citizens of fazilka, we are going to organise our first Environment Festival-Anand Utsav. First year we are celebrating it in the Nai Abadi, Dhingra Colony and Teacher Colony area. We are also going to convert our Sadhu Asharam road as first Green road of the city with lots of trees and enough space for cycling and walking. During this festival, we have target to plant not many trees but few, which we can take care to grow them further. Our idea is not to make this as symbolic event, but a event which will set a another milestone in this history of this beautiful city.

Complete festival details are available on our website www.fazilkafestival.org. During this festival, you can actually see the feel of original rural Fazilka, where ladies during evening time cook their meal on newly constructed SANJHA CHULLAH followed by display of Phulkari and embroidery work. Pottery, folk dances, rural sports competitions like Gulli Danda, Kho-Kho and many more to follow. So, please book you slot on 8 and 9th of August 2009. Visit fazilka to feel the warmth of the Fazilite share with each other and their common concern fo the environment.

We looking forward to see all of you there

Cheers

Navdeep Asija

9464413323

PS : Inauguration on 8th August, 2009 at Sadhu Asharam Road at 6 AM with tree plantation. Anyone who cannot come but would like to plant tree, please let us know, we will do the same on your behalf. Come forward to dedicate one tree to your loved ones. for more details, you can write to me or call us on given numbers

Sunday, August 2, 2009

At just 11 km from the Indo-Pakistan border, Fazilka has always been a bit of a frontier town between warring neighbours. But the residents of this Punjab town don't mind this geopolitical misfortune though they feel let down by politicians who they accuse of ignoring their needs.

Rickshaw-pullers get a new lease of life

But now the town is in the news for some positive developments after a group of IITians, the Graduates Welfare Association Fazilka (GWAF), initiated two unique projects in town—a dial-a-rickshaw service and a car-free zone last year. With these initiatives, Fazilka is perhaps the only Indian town with such simple yet effective schemes.

The rickshaws are called Ecocabs and arrive at residents' doorsteps through a phone call. The city has been divided into five zones and each has a different phone number. "We didn't want the rickshaws called poor man's transport, therefore the name Ecocabs," explains Navdeep Asija, an IIT-Delhi graduate.

"We knew that women and the elderly would wait for their kin at home to get picked up. Thus a demand existed. It was just that we had to organise this plan better," says Asija.

Initially, the scheme got a lukewarm response, but picked up when residents understood the utility. "I detested walking in the sun to find a rickshaw. Now it is so convenient," says a much-relieved Veena, a resident.

It's not just residents, even the rickshaw-pullers have benefited. "Each of the 450 rickshaw-pullers has an identity card, an insurance policy worth Rs 50,000 and gets regular medical checkups," says Ashok Kumar, the secretary of the rickshaw association. Their earnings have gone up as the rates have been fixed.

GWAF'S other project—making the market a no-car zone—saves fuel and has decongested the market. This too did not come up without initial resistance. Fearing loss of business, shopkeepers were sure the scheme would fail, but eight months later the authorities are thinking of expanding the no-car zone.

Recalls Bhupinder Singh, a retired IIT-Roorkee professor: "This idea came from the Fazilka Heritage Festival where certain areas were barred for cars and it was a hit with all." Now, GWAF wants Fazilka residents to show more initiative. It may just show a new way to the rest of the country.

Beautiful Fazilka

Fazilite Network..

About Fazilka...

160 year old historical town Fazilka of District Ferozepur, also known as Bangla, is located in southwestern Punjab (INDIA), about 325 kms west of Punjab State Capital Chandigarh, 85 km south-west of the district headquarters, Ferozepur and 200 km south of Amritsar. Fazilka is on India -Pakistan border and is 11 km off the international border with Pakistan. It is situated on the rice growing and cotton rich belt of the state and is one of the major rice exporting centers in India. Before partition, the town was the biggest wool market in undivided Punjab.

Fazilka’s origin dates back to AD 1844. It was established by Mr. Oliver and was christened after the original owner of the land, Mian Fazil Watoo. The first railway line through the town was setup in AD 1898 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the accession of Queen Victoria. Being at the border, Fazilka also had to bear the brunt of the two Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.

The famous ‘Tosha’ sweets have its origin in Fazilka. The first single cylinder steam ship in the world, Fazilka, was named after this town. Fazilka is also home to the second biggest TV tower in Asia, which stands at 305 m above the ground.
Amritsar International Airport and Ludhiana Domestic Airport serves Fazilka. Fazilka Railway Station is located on Abhor- Ferozepur Region of Northern Railways. National Highway 10 passes through Fazilka.

Geography & Demography of the City:

As of 2001 India census,Fazilka had a population of 67,424. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Fazilka has an average literacy rate of 68%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 72%, and female literacy is 62%. In Fazilka, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age